Dogsey

An alcoholic whose battered dog fled into a double decker bus to escape a beating has been spared jail.

Thomas Cowley, 42, repeatedly thrashed the helpless two-year-old female dog with a strap he had been using as a temporary lead in front of stunned onlookers, a court heard.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier made a desperate attempt to escape by running onto a bus which had stopped on Wilmslow Road, Fallowfield, the Manchester Evening News reports.

However thug Cowley pushed past them, shouting swearing at passengers ho attempted to shield the dog, which was “cowering” at the back.

The animal even ran up the stairs of the double decker before Cowley eventually scooped her up under his arm.

However when he got off the bus, the animal made another attempt escaping running into the path of oncoming traffic, prosecutor Eileen Rogers explained.


Onlookers called police and Cowley was arrested at the scene, near the Lloyds Pharmacy on Bonfire Night, November 5. The dog had suffered injuries to its left leg, had lost one of its claws and there were also grazes and red marks underneath its fur.

It was taken to a vets where it is still currently being cared for and it is now expected to be re-homed.

Cowley, of Burnett Close, Collyhurst, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and threatening behaviour at an earlier hearing.

The dog has been confiscated from him and he is banned from keeping animals for three years.

District Judge Mark Hadfield told him: “These are very serious and unpleasant offences. And you are quite clearly not a fit and proper person to look after a dog.”